Ancient Church Music
Why did the early church not use instruments in their worship?
They didn't want to be associated with pagans.
Chant used in churches for centuries is named after what famous figure?
Pope Gregory I/Pope Gregory the Great
Latin
In the Early Middle Ages, how were chants usually passed down?
Oral tradition/Oral transmission (hearing them and then singing them somewhere else)
How did the church develop musically in its first few hundred years?
It took on the musical styles of surrounding cultures (e.g. Syrian strophic devotional songs, AKA hymns)
Traditional chant usually only has one vocal part at a time. This is called:
Monophonic/Monophony
What are the five texts of the Ordinary of the Mass?
Kyrie, Gloria, Credo, Sanctus, Agnus Dei
What was created in the 8th and/or 9th centuries that allowed chants to be passed down more accurately?
Musical notation (called neumes)
In his letter to Emperor Trajan, Pliny the Younger reported that Christians would "meet on a fixed day before dawn and sing responsively a hymn to Christ as to a god." A word that describes two groups of people singing back and forth to each other would be:
Antiphony
What is meant to be the focus of chant?
The texts - not the music itself
A regular order of texts and traditions that make up a broader order of worship is called what?
Liturgy
How did the musical traditions of the Holy Roman Empire change how chants were composed?
They included more skips and leaps in their melodies, which made them more exciting to listen to.
Chant often has many notes sung on one syllable. These are called what?
Melismas
What do the names of the five Ordinary texts translate to?
Kyrie Eleison - "Lord Have Mercy"
Gloria - "Glory"
Credo - "Creed"
Sanctus - "Holy"
Agnus Dei - "Lamb of God"